“The transport ministry is unable to execute the Grand Faw port project, which will have a total cost of nearly six billion dollars. We cannot secure these funds so the ministry is studying awarding the project on an investment basis for execution,” Baqr Jabr Al-Zubeidi told Iraq’s Awan news network.

The port will have an annual handling capacity of 99m tonnes and will handle a variety of cargoes including containers.

Foreign firms have already come onboard a number of other Iraqi port projects. [28/01/15]